The Legend of Korra Episode 8 – Team Avatar

It was worth waiting two weeks for this as it was one of the best episodes so far. Now I know I say that every time a new episode comes out but this one was great except the fact that it left us on a huge cliffhanger.

I’ll admit it’s nice to see Team Avatar take on crime but what I really liked about this episode was everything involving Tarllok and the council. Poor Tenzin has no luck when it comes to the common sense of the council as they are very easily convinced by Tarllok. I knew that by the end of this episode Tarllok would turn out to be evil but the way he did it was very stylish.

As Korra was entering the council hall at the end to confront Tarllok I kept expecting Amon to show up. As crazy as it sound they are both fighting for the same thing at the moment and a partnership between them would be amazing if written correctly. That being said it’s unlikely Korra will be saved by Tenzin next episode so she is going to have to save herself. Lin Beifong and Amon could be among those who save her or she could be aided by visions of Aang.

If Amon was to save her I’m sure it would be because her being captured would affect the outcome of his plans and he needs her free. Similar to what happened with the Blue Spirit in the first series. There is also the possibilty that Tarllok and Amon are plotting together but that’s unlikely. So that leave Lin Beifong to come to the rescue. Very possible but probably not as interesting as Amon or Aang saving the day.

Remember that Roku possessed Aang in a fire bending temple in the first series so Aang could overcome the group of fire benders. The same kind of thing could happen to Korra especially if she is going to be killed. The flashbacks show a man who looks like Tarllok using Bloodbending on a large group of people including Toph and Sokka. It’s very possible Aang still holds a grudge against Torak or the people he descended from and this could be used as his motivation.

Lastly I’ve noticed that air bending is directly linked to anger. Tenzin seems to calm and layback most of the time but Korra is in constant fit of rage and worry simply because she is surrounded by so many bad things. Once she gets a chance to calm down we’ll certainly see her air bending.

Responses

Either Tarlok’s on some sort of power diet, or he’s one extremely talented Waterbender.
Yeah, I’d probably expect Lin helping Korra out, but I also agree that it’d be way awesome if Amon did.
The secondary bending abilities have been taking the spotlight so far. I’d love to see Korra invent Airbending’s secondary capability.

I feel like someone should know of what happened that Korra is seeing in these flashbacks. They seem like the sort of story someone would tell and re-tell, in my opinion. I mean, Aang looked like he was being mindf***ed in the court room. Toph and Sokka also seemed to be having trouble. Quite possibly he’s a very powerful bloodbender and somehow related to Tarllok.
When Tarllok called Korra a “half baked avatar” I was all like “Oh no he didn’t!”, I knew he was going to get payback for that (and he kinda did).
I’d like to see Aang contact Korra and maybe either airbend through her or help her airbend on her own to help save her from Tarllok. If he’s a true villain he’ll set her up in a situation that can only be resolved with her one “weakness”, airbending.

I doubt anyone alive actually knows about the events in Korra’s flashbacks because Tenzin didn’t seem to know anything and you’d think he might know. Lin could know but she’s out of commission and probably won’t be telling Korra any time soon.

Tarllok seems to be the kind of guy to use cliches in the capture of his enemies. So no doubt he’ll lock her up in a situation that only air bending can free her from. She can breath fire so he’s going to have to account for that too.

Personally I thought the jump to this was a little forced, Tarllock implementing an effectual dictatorship and him and Korra suddenly being at odds seemed to happen a little too quickly, another episode of Team Avatar fighting crime really would have helped ease into that. Other than that, with the bloodbending reveal I’m wondering whether the other council members are quite literally his puppets.

But the direction it took things was good, it was pretty much a matter of time before it did end up happening and there’s a chance we could be seeing outside of the city in the next episode. The path that Tarllock has taken also serves to turn him into Amon’s opposing extreme, representing the opposing bender side to the conflict and bringing in a lot of black vs white vibes. The downside however was that a good chunk of the cast had to be taken out of the picture to reach it.

Also I’m hoping Aang makes some form of appearance as well, the tone of the original series was fairly lighthearted but from those flashes everything seems to have taken a darker twist in between that and this.

Seeing outside the city is going to be a big deal. Not so much for Korra but definitely for the viewers. A lot can change in a hundred years after all. Taking most of the characters out of the picture for a while will probably provide a chance for Korra to have more flashbacks and learn about Aang’s life which will be interesting to watch.

I like your theory on Tarllok’s blood bending controlling the council. It might be hard but there is a chance that he is doing that or something else to make them fall in line.